Please read the article closer, Matt. It says a vote on impeachment could happen as early as Tuesday or Wednesday, then they'll decide when to send it to the Senate for trial.

Waiting a while to do that will have the added benefit of denying McConnell a second chance to run it off the rails, since the two Senators-elect from Georgia haven't been sworn in yet.

"so I was not expecting to be moved by this speech about growing up in the ruins of a country wrecked by the Nazis"

Because your experience not having same-sex-marriage was worse?

Man, I'm not even remotely optimistic any of the charges listed in that NYT article are gonna carry the weight necessary to really make those fuckers regret their actions. Especially when measured against the fact that they're no doubt being hailed as dim-witted "heros" amongst their own. Should do their time down in freaking Guantanomo.

"Why are Democrats waiting to impeach? They could have taken action last week, but apparently the Democrats’ plan is to beg Mike Pence to remove Trump today, then wait a day to see what he does, and only then start impeachment proceedings… maybe 100 days later. WHAT???"

My understanding is that the Dems will introduce impeachment proceedings and carry out the impeachment, but then delay sending it to the Senate for 100 days. This would mean Drumpf would be impeached but not necessarily convicted, which requries 2/3 of the Senate and is unlikely at this point (and perhaps later too), although some Reps have indicated they are behind it and perhaps more will sign on despite not taking a position now. So the Dems in the House are not waiting 100 days, as is implied here, but waiting a day for Pence to change his mind.

@1, that was my read. Impeachment needs to proceed without delay. When Nancy Pelosi sends the articles of impeachment to the Senate is another story. And I think we're leaving Mitch McConnell off the hook too easily for his own unwillingness to bring the Senate back into session for an impeachment trial.

Oh, and the names "Josh Hawley" and "Ted Cruz" need to have a baked-in pejorative meaning just like the names "Benedict Arnold" and "Judas."

The impeachment wait is because Moscow Mitch would start the trial the day Biden is sworn in. Regardless of what happens there won’t be a trial before Trump leaves office. The impeachment will happen causing it to go to trial after Biden takes office. The point of impeaching after he leaves office is to allow a vote after conviction to bar Trump from federal office for life. That’s the long game.

If Matt had been following it more closely (as in at all) it wouldn’t be a mystery why they would wait. The legal fight will be if there is standing to hold an impeachment trial after he leaves office even though he was impeached in office.

It’s unlikely Trump will be removed before the end of his term unless he resigns. Even with a 25th Amendment action there isn’t enough time. The Republican’s out will be Pence pardoned him to “heal the country”. Except for a small contingent (relatively speaking) Trump’s support is toast. They were good with humoring him to get judges, reg rollbacks and tax cuts. Now that’s done they’re ready to jettison him but need to somehow keep his followers.

Following up @6... "Josh and Ted's Treasonous Adventure."

You forgot to link to the beetle story, and now I don't know if it's safe to go outside.

How can you possibly write the news this morning and not include everything that happened with Parler over the weekend?

The latest cherry on top is how laughably bad their infrastructure and security was, and how a small group of people were able to archive almost all of their data before AWD took their servers down: https://gizmodo.com/every-deleted-parler-post-many-with-users-location-dat-1846032466

I seriously doubt Pelosi or any other Democrat believes he'll resign or that Pence will invoke the 25th Amendment. That said, submitting a formal request for him to do so communicates their intent to follow both Constitutional process and the rule-of-law; in stark contrast to the reckless, impulsive and inept attempt at an old-fashioned putsch instigated by SCROTUS', his GOP enablers, and his base. Additionally, it puts Pence squarely in the hot-seat: if he somehow does manage to grow a spine in 24 hours and put the nation's interest above his party and its kleptocratic leader, he risks bringing the wrath of the MAGATS down squarely on his head, and given their general inability to concentrate on more than one thing at a time, might dilute a potential repeat of last week, which by all indications they're ramping up for on the 17th. Alternately, if he refuses to do anything, he gets to go down in history as the one person who COULD have ended this national nightmare, if only a few days early, but deliberately chose not to; and I doubt history will be as kind to him as his cronies in the GOP.

And I certainly understand them wanting to allow time for Biden to implement his agenda, which is, on the surface at least, the rationale for delaying submitting the articles of impeachment to the Senate. It also means nothing will happen in that chamber until it comes under Democratic control in a little over a week. My guess is he won't be convicted, since that would require a two-thirds majority and there are still enough Kool-Aid drunk Rethugnicans there to prevent that; but it sounds like it may be possible to permanently disqualify him from holding public office on a simple majority vote, which, even though it will undoubtedly be litigated, would undoubtedly cut the legs out of his ability to continue to hold sway and influence over the GOP, and which itself would drive a wedge into the already widening gap between his loyalists and moderates in the Party.

A GOP in disarray for the next several months or even years wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing IMO, if it either: A. leads to a complete meltdown and subsequent restructuring of the party into something less egregiously racist and obstructionist, or; B. it results in a complete schism with the MAGATS being forced to split off into their own "National White People's Party" or whatever racist/fascist moniker thy choose to adopt. At least that way they've be fully exposed to the sunlight of public scrutiny and given that white people are soon to become a "majority minority" in this country in as little as ten years or so, might be just enough to relegate the entire lot of them to a state of permanent irrelevancy, at least in the political arena.

@7 The 25th amendment moves the imperium (for lack of a better word) to the Veep for 21 days as soon as VP/Cabinet sends notification to Congress. Then follows some procedures that would return it to the president unless Congress votes to remove. That would deprive Trump of power till out the other side of the inauguration.

Great Moments in American History:

Oh, to be a future textbook writer that’s gonna have to churn out blurbs about the terrorist Tr666p traitors that died on Wednesday, like:

--QAnon Karen that really wanted YOUR MANAGER to overthrow the United States government and got shot;
--the fucking idiot who tased his own balls to death;
--and the stupid bitch trampled by the mob while carrying an insipid ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ flag.

Good riddance, white trash.

There isn't much point in impeaching Trump. He has already been impeached once, and there is no chance that he could be convicted before he gets kicked out. He could be convicted after, but that becomes a big distraction, and what's the point? So he can't be president again? He would find a way around it, just like Putin. He would pick a puppet president, but be the one rallying crowds and tweeting away (which is what he likes). Besides, Trump running again would simply divide the Republican Party further.

I love the Sesame Street Aliens. Here is my favorite episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTc3PsW5ghQ.

/seen online/

“Two questions:

a. In what other country in the world could Republican leaders mount an unsuccessful coup attempt (in which people died!!!) and not be arrested or executed the following day?

b. In what other country would they not only NOT punish the leaders, but allow them to REMAIN IN POWER to try again???”

It’s painfully obvious that the Republinazis plan to greet Biden’s calls for unity with the Lincoln Special: Articles of Seccession and a bullet to the head. If he actually thinks that he appease these illegitimate, lying, homicidal, treasonous fascists, then he’s even crazier than they are.

Whatever new national nightmare awaits us as the FBI is handing out jay-walking tickets and the DOJ conspires with Tr666p on a pardonpollooza, we can feel confident knowing that it’ll be really fucking stupid.

@ 14,

You do understand that the COUP IS STILL HAPPENING, right?

That the people that plotted and orchestrated the coup are still in power and planning another try, that Biden and Harris are facing an ongoing insurrection, and that law enforcement is helpless, incompetent, and complicit???

This removal of the President is more than mere showmanship by the Democrats—Trump is a hazard to our nation and must be politically neutralized before he causes anymore harm to the electoral process or our national safety. Please Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Schumer, ram this impeachment and removal from office through ASAP, before the orange monstrosity tries to light up Beijing or Moscow as a retaliatory act.

Kinda surprised The Stranger has slept on these:

Two SPD officers placed on paid leave for participation in DC insurrection:

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/seattle-police-investigating-reports-that-2-officers-were-in-dc-during-us-capitol-riots-wednesday/281-76b6126a-e839-44e1-8cd2-a6ea82160089

SPOG President Mike Solan blames BLM for DC capitol insurrection:

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/president-of-seattle-police-union-lambasted-for-comments-blaming-black-lives-matter-liberal-activists-for-u-s-capitol-siege/

@14: I seriously doubt Trump couldn't "find a way around it". But moreover, it is of paramount importance to adjudicate his misdeeds to set a precedent for maintaining the rule of law, which is required for a democracy.

@19 - Indeed

From Politico -
“Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.” He made it clear: “If they do the wrong thing, we should never, ever forget that they did. Never forget.”
Near the end of his address, Trump went on to remind his supporters, “The radical left knows exactly what they were doing. They are ruthless and it’s time that somebody did something about it.”

Then, the president closed his nearly 11,000-word performance saying, “So we are going to—we are going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we are going to the Capitol, and we are going to try and give ... our Republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re try—going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.”

And now Trump wants to give Officer Sicknick a Presidential Medal of Freedom, after the mob he whipped up murdered him.
Fucking obscene.

@14,

He'd also lose his $200k+ pension and secret service protection. The latter would thus necessitate his hiring private 24 hour security, which is exorbitantly expensive, particularly for someone of his stature. I could see the annual tally on that reaching $250K, easily, bringing the total net-loss to half a million dollars a year. Given that we know he's nowhere near as wealthy as he claims to be, I could see that being a significant loss.

@20 should read:

I seriously doubt Trump COULD "find a way around it". (being prohibited from running again by an impeachment conviction)

Just want to respond to a few items here.

Ross @14, good comment. This would make a great talking point for some apologist GOP elected official to trot out on the TV news.

pollysexual @18: "Please Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Schumer, ram this impeachment and removal from office through ASAP, before the orange monstrosity tries to light up Beijing or Moscow as a retaliatory act." Why in the world would Trump attack Moscow of all places when it is Moscow to which he has shown his unfailing allegiance? Not expecting a response from "pollysexual."

Responding to the links shared at @19. Boy, it's wonderful to know that the SPOG president is an unprofessional, gaslighting troll. What is wrong with these people?

@14 Why do you want to spare Trump the trouble of finding a way around disqualification from holding federal elected office? If impeachment would force him into legal effort and expense when he wants to run again, why are you opposed to it?

-14F in Madrid? WTF did you get that? It might get down to 14F tonight, but starts warming up to freezing over the next 10 days.

had the Armed Insurrectionists succeeded in finding -- and Killing -- VP Pence -- or Any of the Senators or House members, Fake 'prez' could have Instantly declared a LEGAL Martial Law giving him his path to a ten thousand year trumpfian Reich and a Keep the fuck Outta Jail FOREVER card written and embossed by what's left of his (all-New!) Attorney General Rudy Giuliani.

this shit ain't Over
till the Fat Man's GONE.

Why do people in this country not understand even the most basic ways our government is supposed to function? The HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES impeaches the president.

Donald Trump has been impeached once already. The SENATE removes the president from office. Donald Trump was not removed from office by the Senate when he was IMPEACHED. (Neither was Bill Clinton).

Since Trump will no longer be president, instead of removal, the SENATE will not be removing Trump from office - but his impeachment and punishment meted out could be significant - as in never being able to hold any political position of power in any way, shape, or form ever again, no presidential pension, no secret service detail, no recognition of him as a former president with any building or library or airport or anything else ever to be named after him, etc.

Trump, being a narcissistic psychopath, will be hurt most by all refusal to acknowledge he ever existed (and his inability to continue to bilk taxpayers for everything he can).

Of course we won't know if any of this will actually happen until
a. the HOUSE votes on the Articles of Impeachment (Pelosi's hoping for a vote on Wednesday)
b. the SENATE votes to punish Trump (if he is impeached and after the articles of impeachment have been sent from teh HOUSE to the SENATE)

Most of us learned this in 3rd grade. And then again in 10th grade. It's not that difficult to understand. Children understand it. Why can't grown people?

Donnie needs to be impeached because actions have consequences. Donnie has never had to take responsibility for his actions his entire life. It's long past due. Not only should he be impeached, he should be arrested and charged with sedition.

The terrorists who invaded the Capitol should also be arrested and charged with insurrection.

Throw the fucking book at all of them.

Actions have consequences. Fuck around and find out.

@26 I think you're under on costs of private security by an order of magnitude. For reference, Jeff Bezos' security costs $1.6M per year. There are lots of people who'd like to bump off Jeff, but not nearly as many as would like to bump off/kidnap Trump. I'd be really surprised if Trump's security costs were less than $2M, and $3-5M wouldn't shock me. For reference, the Zuck spends $23M/year.

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-silicon-valley-ceos-spend-on-security-and-protection-2019-5#mark-zuckerberg-23-million-13

@34: Charges would be both "Rebellion and insurrection," and "Seditious conspiracy," violations of 18 U.S. Code § 2383 and § 2384, respectively. Punishment for the first can be imprisonment for up to ten years, and up to twenty years for the second. Put them all away in our underground cells for thirty years, without possibility of parole, not to see daylight again until release. Family members get to visit once a year (at night) so children and grandchildren can see the graying remnants of their seditious relatives under fluorescent light in prison garb.

@33 Your memory is probably better than mine, I can't recall Article I Section III Paragraph 7 off the top of my head.

If you could have told me a week ago, without looking it up, that the Senate could vote to disqualify an impeached president from holding future Federal office, in addition to or instead of removing them, then I salute whoever taught your 8th-grade civics lessons; mine were far too boring to inspire that kind of detailed recall.

Me, I just go look that shit up when it's relevant. I do know "impeachment" technically only refers to the vote to initiate the trial (mainly on account of it having happened too many damned times in my adult life) but I have no problem understanding what people are talking about when they use the word as shorthand for the entire process.

@35,

Thanks, yeah I figured it was real low as an estimate, but was unaware of just HOW low. That's a weird-ass industry.

@35 By the same token, I suspect you might be overestimating Trump's willingness to pay for professionalism.

Let's be realistic here, if Trump had to manage his own security, he'd fuck it up at least as thoroughly as every other responsibility he's ever had. My guess is he'd rope in a couple dozen gullible militia castoffs via some seedy internet message board, pay them in hamburgers, and throw them under a bus when things inevitably go Hell's-Angels-At-Altamont on him.

@38 Definitely. The costs make sense when you look at salaries. A higher-end cop makes something like $100-$150K/year before going crazy on overtime. A company will typically charge a billing rate around 2.5 times the salary being paid (to cover taxes, profits, benefits, training, etc. though that wouldn't cover expensive stuff like cars, guns, body armor, etc.). Getting 24/7 coverage with one guard at a time takes 5-6 people on the job. That all totals to $1.3-$1.8M.

@38 / @40 -- add to that sum the $1mill / year travel allotment for ex-presidents and you have an even larger sum that would be saved from taxpayers. Also hard to put a price on the optics of ensuring he's been tried with actual Senate questioning/interviews, unlike that last McConnell bias-based punt.

@39 - with any luck the low-rent personnel he hired would not be very good at their jobs.

Donaldo would do it the right way.. he'd hire undocumented fucks and Mike's original estimate of 250K per year would be right in line

Not sure I'm on board with removing the SS protection.
If he were to then be assassinated... nah that's too ugly to think about, no one wants that.

How 'bout them Seahawks? Couldn't beat a QB with a broken thumb. They played like they were trying to lose.

@41 Along those lines, when the President is being impeached, the presiding officer is the Chief Justice. When anyone else is being impeached, the presiding officer is the Vice President. I am so looking forward to a trial run by Kamala Harris 100 days into the term. Donny would be smarter to issue his pardons, resign, and run for the hills.

One other benefit to the 100-day delay that I hadn't thought of before is that it gives time for him to be arrested/indicted for all of his other crimes. Senators then have to decide whether to convict with a lot of other evidence out in the public domain.

@43 Our boy Donny wouldn't want to have brown people that close to him with guns. Housekeeping and bartending sure, but not guns.

@ 46,

The Constitution specifically states that presidential pardons cannot be granted in cases of impeachment to prevent the crisis of criminals pardoning each other. Another reason to ITMFA Again ASAP.

@32 kristofarian: I am really looking forward to when the fat man is finally GONE, and all the neofascist RWNJs guilty of insurrection, sedition, damage to government property, obstructing justice and legislature are convicted. WTF about D.C. Capitol police officers posing for selfies with the perps while the January 6th attack was going on?!?
Let's not send these pigfuckers to jail on taxpayer money. If it is the American (1765-1783) and French (May 5, 1789--November 9, 1799) Revolutions and / or Civil War (April 12, 1861--May 9,1865) eras they want, send their sorry asses to the guillotine, pronto. And put that back-end-of-a-dumptruck-ugly MAGA Holstein cow, Jenny Cudd, out to pasture, but good.

@49 Original Andrew: Agreed and seconded.

@45 Brent Gumbo: And sadly at home, too. We'll get' em next year. Seahawks coach, PeteCarroll, QB Russell Wilson, and the rest of the team just need to reshuffle. I'm still celebrating Super Bowl #48. If Seattle won a Super Bowl before, they can do it again.

@48: It is, but whether you or not is another question.

@48 -- tis a Fanta Sea

some say orange
others say Grape
what do YOU say?

@53 -- what?

@auntie gee

4 long nightmare years (nearly!) gone
and nine short days to go and Thee
WORST PRESIDENT IN THE
HISTROY OF THE
W O R L D
is gonna
LEAVE
us.

Hoo-fuckin'ray

& yet another fucking MESS for a
damn Dem to try and clean up.

Joe's gonna Need a Hand.

@55: It's worse than that.

Matt, you're over 40? I would have put you at 34, tops.

"Who paid for the riot?" Huh. It's almost as if the laws allowing dark money groups to go untracked are designed specifically to rot our nation's democracy from the inside out.

I'll say it again: let us not lose sight of the fact that Trump committed plenty of impeachable offenses before the insurrection he incited. It's beyond me why they're not writing up separate Articles of Impeachment on a blatant campaign to steal the election: at least THREE separate tactics just in Georgia; multiple state election officials being flown to the White House to be pressured in person; the systemic dismantling of the USPS. There is a wealth of options to choose from here, any one of them impeachable offenses!

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/us/georgia-presidential-election-results.html

@3: Having them sent to Gitmo would be especially poetic, given it was Republicans who repeatedly blocked Obama from closing it as he promised to do.

@34: Agreed. He was already stoking these people up with the "FREE MICHIGAN!" tweets, this was only more blatant. The bastard doesn't ever learn, and it's ~60 years overdue for him to learn that actions have consequences, even for him.

@58: I'm not sure. Think of it as punchline in search of a joke.